Thousands of folks packed the American Airlines Center Monday night, but they weren’t there for a Mavericks game or a concert. They were there for Donald Trump.

The campaign gave away 20,000 tickets to see the celebrity GOP presidential candidate. There were folks scattered around the nosebleeds, but the arena wasn’t entirely full. Much of the crowd was white, conservative and independently minded — like the Yeagers of Fairview.

The Yeagers say they trust Trump: He’s rich enough to be independent – and he understands what regular folks need.

“It’s getting back to the people,” Dan Yeager said.

“He’ll be in, get it done, and get out,” Eileen Yeager said.

Before the rally, Vaughn Thompson was buying beers at the busy concession stands.

“Two Ziegenbocks, please.”

Thompson came with a friend – and he just wanted to see Donald Trump be Donald Trump.

“This rally’s gonna be much better with alcohol,” Thompson said.

Trump was late coming in – it was rush hour in Dallas — but once the warmup acts got started, and the pledge of allegiance recited, it was clear that this was a crowd ready to be revved.

“The next president of the United States, Donald J. Trump!” the announcer declared.

The Donald delivered. It was a long, winding speech – he spoke for more than an hour — no teleprompters, he said, just some notes. Mostly, it was bread and butter:

Bash the Republican establishment, folks like strategist Karl Rove.

“He’s terrible, he’s terrible,” Trump said.

Crack a joke about his looks.

“Can you see in the back – they have the best view – can you see it’s really my hair?” Trump said.

Talk about his wealth.

“I made $200 million, can you believe it? From a television show!”

Then Trump delved into more substantive issues: Support for veterans. Put tough-minded negotiators at the table with Iran. Repeal and replace Obamacare with something much better. The biggest applause line, though: An unrelenting approach to immigration – calling the United States a dumping ground for the rest of the world.

“We have to build a wall folks,” Trump said. “We have to do it.”

Inside, the crowd cheered.

Outside, another crowd cheered.

The fervor inside was matched only by the thousand or so anti-Trump activists outside. The League of United Latin American Citizens organized a “Dump the Trump” rally and marched through parts of downtown holding signs and piñatas in the form of Trump’s head.

“Join with us, stand up to that bully and tell him we’re not gonna take that any more,” a speaker told the protesters.

“This politics of division and spewing hated and setting neighbor against neighbor is not really the way to go forward, is not about what America is about and these are not our values as Americans,” Jawad said.

In one night in Dallas, two rallies with two takes on America’s values.